WASHINGTON, Sept 29: The US Congress on Friday approved the defence budget for 2007, which boosts spending to 447.6 billion dollars, including 70 billion dollars for the war in Iraq.

The budget bill was passed unanimously by the Senate, just three days after it gained approval in a 394-26 vote in the House of Representatives.

“By passing this legislation, Congress has made clear its commitment to the safety and security of the American people,” Senate Republican leader Bill Frist said after the vote. “We must continue to secure our homeland by waging the war on terror against those who seek to take the lives of innocent Americans.”

In contrast to the climate that existed when the bill was first taken up earlier this month — when Democrats clamoured for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation — the budget did not generate debate in Friday’s session.

Still, on the sidelines of the vote, the opposition party showed no signs of easing its criticism of the Republican administration, fuelled by the publication of excerpts from a new book by prominent journalist Bob Woodward, which accuses the administration of skirting the truth.

“This administration cut and run from the truth, and every day this administration refuses to face reality is another day they play into the hands of the terrorists,” charged Senator John Kerry, a former Democratic presidential hopeful.

“The administration has a ‘stand still and lose’ policy in Iraq, which isn’t the centre of the war on terror, and a ‘cut and run’ policy in Afghanistan, which is the centre of the war on terror. The only clear thing about the president’s policy is that it’s clearly not working,” Kerry declared. —AFP